


The First and Only Exception

by rhysiethecompanyman



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Denial of Feelings, First Crush, M/M, Pining, black hat is a tsundere, sort of but not really bh just breaks some stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 04:43:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20790833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysiethecompanyman/pseuds/rhysiethecompanyman
Summary: "None of this had started any different than the hiring of any other employee. He’d needed a new head of science and development. The last one had disappointed him sorely, so they had to be disposed of and replaced. Black Hat had then received the resume of one Dr. Kenning Flugslys, a young man who had shown substantial interest in the company, and enough sense of self-preservation to last longer than a week. That had been good enough for Black Hat, even with his odd insistence of keeping a paper bag over his head at all times, so he’d given him the job. What he hadn’t expected in his newest hire was the surprising innovation involved his creations, genuine scientific talent, and…Whatever the hell it was that was keeping him alive right now, with how much grief he was causing his boss."In which Black Hat has a big ol' crush on a certain doctor and has literally no idea what he's supposed to do about it other than be annoyed





	The First and Only Exception

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this for a friend who absolutely love love Loves villainous. this one's for you bro, i hope you like it!!

Black Hat couldn’t seem to keep his mind on his work.

It’s not that he didn’t _want_ to focus, in fact he rather enjoyed keeping tabs on the villains in his employ, seeing as they systematically took down every hero that crossed their path with the aide of Black Hat patented equipment and weaponry. It was endlessly entertaining and never failed to turn a profit, catching the attention of other nefarious ne’er-do-wells in need of assistance, sending them flocking to his doorstep. Unfortunately, he found himself distracted.

Horrifically, _annoyingly _so.

Now, distractions were never a problem for him; more often than not felled with a snap of his fingers and a delighted cackle as it erupted into flames or what have you, but _this… _Was not something he could simply crush under his boot and be done with.

Well. He _could, _obviously.

But he didn’t want to.

And that was unnerving.

Nothing like that had never happened before. Black Hat hadn’t thought it _possible _and yet here he was, huffing and muttering behind his desk, fingers pressed against his temples as he tried fruitlessly to drive images of a pristine lab coat, a spindly, clumsy figure, and goggles flashing menacingly in the dark out of his mind.

None of this had started any different than the hiring of any other employee. He’d needed a new head of science and development. The last one had disappointed him sorely, so they had to be disposed of and replaced. Black Hat had then received the resume of one Dr. Kenning Flugslys, a young man who had shown substantial interest in the company, and enough sense of self-preservation to last longer than a week. That had been good enough for Black Hat, even with his odd insistence of keeping a paper bag over his head at all times, so he’d given him the job. What he _hadn’t _expected in his newest hire was the surprising innovation involved his creations, genuine scientific talent, and…

Whatever the hell it was that was keeping him alive right now, with how much grief he was causing his boss.

He wanted to ask why. Why, what made him different than the rest? Why was _Flug _so adept at giving him a splitting headache and yet not receiving any of the wrath that came with it? Why did he find himself impressed with the doctor’s work and actually complimenting it to his face? (As much as “Of course I like it, you idiot”, could be considered a compliment, anyway).

He wanted to ask, but unfortunately, he knew perfectly well _why, _and he hated everything about it.

Previously a foreign concept to Black Hat personally, he’d been around for a long time. He’d worked with many humans in his life, and he knew how to identify the signs of emotion when he saw them.

That _idiot_ of a doctor. This was all his fault. _He _was the one who was making him…

_Feel. _

It was so disgustingly human of him, Black Hat could have vomited.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to _do_, that was the worst of it. He had a reputation to maintain! He couldn’t just let himself be caught up in all this emotional _nonsense, _and he wouldn’t! He was _Black Hat!_ The one and only, the villain of villains, a wicked evil mastermind, conquerer of civilizations throughout history! He didn’t… _care, _about things. He couldn’t! It had never happened before, and it never would. He’d never felt affection for anything. Or anyone. He had certainly never harbored _romantic_ feelings for anything. He never felt a desire to… what, _hug? _Something? Or… date? He didn’t think about doing that either. Or anything else that humans did for ‘love’.

He certainly wasn’t thinking about any of those things right now.

He _absolutely_ was not!

Black Hat had never had a single thought like that in his life. Especially not about someone like _Flug. _He was cowardly! Not to mention annoying, inept, _stupid, _and-… and-…

…

God.

_Damn _it.

He groaned aloud, and dropped his head to his desk with a dull ‘thunk’, covering his head with his arms.

There was something very wrong with him.

Maybe he’d found himself in another dimension, a reality separate from his own, perhaps a trick from one of his enemies?

Or this could be a horrible nightmare. A very long, very realistic nightmare. He’d never had one before, but if it meant that he’d simply wake up and everything would be back to the way it was supposed to be, he could accept the possibly.

Mind awash with excuses and explanations, Black Hat very nearly missed the handful of knocks at his door. He sat up, shooting a glare toward the reddened wood on the opposite side of the room. “Go _away,”_ he hissed, hand curling into a fist on his desk.

“Sir?”

Oh, of _course._

It had to be him, of all people. It couldn’t be Demencia coming to clamor all over him, or 5.0.5. asking to play. It had to be _him._

“Sir, I-… I have some requests I think you should look over, they’re rather complex, and could require a substantial amount of resources on our end-“

“I don’t _care_,” Black Hat growled, picking up one of the handful of baubles on his desk and hurling it toward the door. It collided with the wood loudly, shattering on impact, (not that it mattered, it could be fixed). He heard Flug’s yelp from the other side. “_Go!_”

Silence followed, and for a moment Black Hat thought that Flug had left. It wouldn’t have surprised him, the doctor tended not to push his luck when it came to Black Hat’s mood. As he made to drop his head back onto the desk, fixing his destroyed decoration with a snap of his fingers, Black Hat was genuinely surprised to hear Flug’s voice, still just outside the door.

“Boss, are you feeling alright?”

Alright?

_Alright?!_

Of_ course _he wasn’t feeling alright! He shouldn’t have been _feeling_ at all! None of this should have been happening. He should have been terrorizing his employees and setting schoolhouses ablaze for fun, but instead he was here in his office! Confused and distressed, sitting alone with a head full of _stupid scientist _that should have been _dead_ by now but _wasn’t_, because Black Hat didn’t _want _him dead, he wanted him to-…

_Ugh._

“…Sir?”

Hearing that voice again, Black Hat growled. This was his fault. This was _all his fault. _Getting up from his desk, Black Hat stalked over to the door, throwing it open with a swing of his hand, causing Flug to jump as the heavy wood breezed past him, now face to face with his boss.

“_You.”_

Flug blinked at him, tablet in his hands held up defensively in front of his face, “M-…Me, sir?”

Black Hat seized Flug by the collar and hauled him forward, teeth bared as the door slammed shut behind them. He could hear the frightened squeak that came from the doctor as he was dragged inside the office. _“You _did this to me. You’ve made a damned bloody mess of _everything_, you _imbecile!”_

“Wha-? _Ack!_” Flug was dragged farther into the room behind Black Hat, who huffed and grumbled as he approached the desk. He released Flug’s shirt, facing away from him as the scientist stumbled forward, struggling to regain his balance after the rough handling.

“I was fine. I was _perfect! _A being of pure evil that the world trembled at the mere mention of! Now what have I become?” Black Hat continued to gripe, whirling around to snarl at the doctor before snatching the tablet out of Flug’s hands and circling around back behind his desk. “What have _you_ turned me into? _Ugh!_” He sat down in his chair, apparently paying no mind to the blatant confusion of his employee, and began to immerse himself in the requests that the doctor had brought to him, grumbling angrily under his breath as he did.

There was a beat of silence, and then another. Black Hat could feel Flug staring at him as he swiped along the tablet.

“I- Uh… Sir?”

_“What?!” _Black Hat snapped, taking no small amount of enjoyment in how Flug flinched away from his volume.

“Well, I- erm- That is, you haven’t-… Um,” Flug wasn’t looking at him anymore, instead apparently finding the carpeting a far more fascinating sight. “...What did I do to you, exactly...?”

And if that wasn’t the million dollar question.

What _did _he do to Black Hat? Well, he knew perfectly well what Flug did, loathe as he was to even think it; the sickeningly warm feeling blooming in his chest told him as much. But it would seem that the man himself was blissfully unaware, finally looking up from the floor to stare at him quizzically from the other side of Black Hat’s desk.

Somehow, that annoyed Black Hat even more.

Flug had caused so much _trouble_ for him. This pitiful _human_ was the cause of so much _confusion _and_ uncertainty _and every other damned _emotion _Black Hat had been experiencing for the past who knows how long.

And he didn’t even know he was doing it.

Flug’s question was met with silence, Black Hat glaring daggers at the scientist standing in the center of the room. If Flug was afraid, surprisingly, he didn’t show it. He seemed nervous, awkward, and thoroughly confused, certainly, but not afraid, meeting Black Hat’s sharp gaze with befuddlement.

“You’re joking,” Black Hat said eventually, lip curling in distaste. Flug blinked at him.

“...No?”

“You’d _better_ be joking,” Black Hat continued, standing back up from his desk, claws digging into the formerly immaculate surface. “You can’t _possibly_ not know what you’ve done here, Doctor. You’re not _that_ stupid.”

“Uh,” Flug was still staring at him, eyes void of understanding behind the goggles doing nothing to soothe Black Hat’s temper. “I... I’m drawing a blank here, sir.”

_Everything _in Black Hat’s mind was shrieking at him, accusing Flug of lying, demanding he admit to being the one behind his sudden whirlwind of emotions he didn’t think he was capable of having; to admit it was a trick, a mistake, a side effect of his experiments gone wrong, something, _anything-!_

But Flug only looked at him, confused. _Innocent. _Unable to provide the escape he was so madly searching for. His anger flared sharply, though he said nothing, sharp nails still wedged into the wood of his desk.

“…Boss?”

Black Hat made a noise, something between a growl and a groan, dropping back down into his chair, claws dislodging from his desk. If it had been anyone else standing before him, there would have been nothing but a singed section of carpet left behind by now. He scrubbed his face over with both hands, annoyed with Flug; with _himself_. What the hell was he going to do about him? About any of this?

“Uh- okay, well-“ Black Hat could hear Flug approaching him from the center of the room, coming up to the desk. “I guess I’ll, um- I’ll head back to my lab, now, if you’re done with this-“ he reached out, Black Hat could see through his fingers, a gloved hand going for the tablet that had been dropped unceremoniously in front of him.

Black Hat’s hand moved from his face like a bolt of lightning, snapping downward and landing what was probably quite painfully atop Flug’s wrist, effectively pinning his hand to the desk and keeping the scientist in place.

Flug all but shrieked, jolting bodily at the sudden movement. Fingers that had just barely lifted the tablet releasing it instantaneously. It clattered noisily as it landed. “Ah! Sorry, sir! I- I don’t- I wasn’t thinking, I should have asked first! I didn’t mean-“

“Shut up,” Black Hat grunted, standing up from his chair, meeting Flug’s gaze with his own. The shorter man trembled slightly and swallowed rather noisily as his boss loomed over him. Though to his credit, he didn’t look away. Black Hat didn’t say anything for a short while as he kept Flug pinned beneath his piercing gaze, debating silently whether or not this was a good idea. It would almost be like admitting defeat, in a way, but he supposed Flug still walking about and breathing said as much, too. Besides, this was something he wanted. Who was he to deny himself anything he wanted? He’d never done that before, after all.

He was still Black Hat, in the end, regardless of whatever he thought of his head scientist. He could still level cities as easily as blinking, and bring the bravest of beings to their knees with nothing but a grin. No hero or villain could ever hope to surpass him.

That thought made him feel a little better about this whole mess.

“…Tomorrow, you will see me in my office,” He said very seriously, finally releasing Flug’s wrist from his viselike grip. “12 o’clock sharp. You will not be late.”

Flug seemed to have settled down now as he realized that Black Hat wasn’t about to kill him, picking up the tablet from where he’d dropped it and bringing it back up to his chest. “Of course, sir, I’ll make a note of it. But, er-… Why?”

Black Hat turned away from the doctor, walking back toward the large window behind him. He crossed his arms behind his back, looking out over the distant city. He could see Flug’s reflection in the glass. “…You’re going to have lunch with me.”

“Huh?” He looked just as surprised as he sounded.

“I will not be repeating myself,” Black Hat said stubbornly, pointedly keeping his back to Flug.

Flug’s reflection blinked rather owlishly at him, Black Hat could practically see the gears working in his mind as he repeatedly went over Black Hat’s statement. “U-Um… Yes, sir, of course. That sounds- er… That would be nice.” He didn’t seem to be entirely present as he spoke, still caught up in his own head.

“…Good,” Black Hat mumbled under his breath. “You’re dismissed,” he continued, sparing a quick, impassive glance Flug’s way over his shoulder, before looking back to the window.

“Hm? Oh-! Oh, yes, right, I’ll- uh. I’ll be on my way then, boss.”

Black Hat didn’t move from where he was until Flug shut the door behind him. Only when the latch clicked back into place did he let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding in. He uncrossed his arms, allowing one to lower to his side, the other reaching upward to rub his temple.

This was going to be an uphill battle for him, he already knew, coming to terms with all this. Accepting it, even. He could tell from the moment that sickeningly sweet feeling bloomed in his chest, seeing Flug’s stupid bag crinkle upward at the edges. Black Hat knew he’d been smiling at him, just before he turned and left the room.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tunglr or insta @rhysiethecompanyman


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